Colin Hanks, who plays Alex Whitman on Roswell, may be the son of a huge Hollywood star, but his feet are firmly planted on the ground. The 22-year-old is as gracious and unaffected as his father, Tom Hanks. The WB show, which centers around a group of teen aliens and their human (including Alex) friends, is Hanks' first major venture into acting and has allowed him to prove his own merit.

In fact, Hanks has earned so much street cred that last summer he was rumored to be on the short list for the highly coveted role of Anakin Skywalker in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II. Hanks insists, however, that the actual event was blown way out of proportion: "I only went in and talked with the casting director - along with tens of thousands of other people!" he explains. (Unknown Hayden Christensen ended up nabbing it.)

Hanks' inarguable talent, combined with his congenial demeanor and solid pedigree, indicate that his young Mr. Whitman is just a sampler of great things to come. He took a few minutes with Gist to talk about his personal life, his TV character, and why he's so keen on Roswell.

What attracted you to the part of Alex?
"It was refreshing for me to be able to not do a 'teen show' because they can be very predictable. Roswell was definitely something different. I don't think of it as a teen show; if anything, I think of it as a science fiction show."

Has your strong Hollywood connection benefited your career?
"In terms of getting the auditions in the beginning, yes. But now that I've been on Roswell, the show pretty much leads people to me. But it's a double-edged sword. People are always so quick to judge me in terms of, 'Well, he's so-and-so's son. That's probably why he got the job,' which is so far from the truth. If I couldn't act, if I couldn't make the grade, no one would hire me. No one's stupid enough to cast someone on name recognition alone. It definitely makes people interested in me, which is fine; there's nothing I can do about that. But ultimately they have to meet me and see if I'm right for the part."

Why do the parents of Alex and the rest of the gang never seem to need to know where their kids are?
"It's TV magic! I once read an article in which Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked why the gun that he was firing in a movie only had six bullets yet we never saw him reload the gun. He replied, 'Because it's boring.' And it is! I don't want to see him reload the gun, just like I'm sure a lot of people don't want to see Alex getting yelled at by his parents that he's home late."

Were your parents strict with you as a kid?
"I didn't have to worry about curfews too much. My mom [Samantha Lewes, divorced from Tom] was pretty relaxed about that. As long as she knew where I was and who I was with, she believed me and trusted in me to be able to make the right decisions - but sometimes I didn't. Most of the time, though, she was pretty laid-back."

When Roswell first started, some viewers might have prejudged Alex because he dresses kind of funky.
"So many teenage-themed shows prepackage kids in a way that they normally aren't. I didn't want Alex being a poster boy for Abercrombie & Fitch - not that there's anything wrong with Abercrombie & Fitch, but I wanted people to have no idea what to think of him when they saw him. I wanted to show them that, 'Look, just because a kid wears baggy pants and a wallet chain doesn't mean that he's not a nice kid,' because ultimately Alex really is one of the nicest kids on the show. He's very mature. I like to think that he's like any other normal kid who doesn't quite feel comfortable in high school. Luckily he dresses a lot like I do; it was very comfortable for me."

Did your pals envy you for the love scenes Alex had last season with his then girlfriend, Isabel [Katherine Heigl]?
"They weren't really 'love scenes!' My friends just teased me and stuff like that. They dug it. They were glad to see that their boy was getting some lovin' on TV."

If the romance heats up again, the lovin' will resume!
"I'll take it!"